The Delhi High Court on Monday has deferred its hearing till August in an application filed seeking interim relief of setting aside the order passed by the Lieutenant Governor, wherein the Lieutenant Governor has stayed the operation of Delhi Government Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana.
The application has been filed by petitioner Shrikant Prasad in his pending writ petition before the Delhi High Court which was filed seeking direction to the Central Government, National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), Delhi government, Delhi police and other authorities to make adequate arrangements for slum dwellers and homeless people for their food, shelter, financial help, and employment skills and to provide them with ration cards, labour cards or other beneficiary cards for them.
The Delhi High Court had on May 17, 2021, issued notice to the respondents and sought their reply. Today during the hearing of an application wherein the petitioner has challenged the stay order by the LG on Delhi Govt Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana, has submitted that LG has no power to set aside the said scheme as it is a policy decision; and would affect around 72 lakh ration-card holders standing in long queues outside the ration shops.
He contended that none of the respondent other than Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) has submitted its response in the petition.
The Court was also apprised by the respondents that the Supreme Court has seized of the similar matter.
The Division Bench comprising Hon’ble Chief Justice D.N.Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh granted time to respondents to file their response in the petition. The court directed that the application along with the petition will be taken up on August 20, 2021.
Mr. Rahul Mehra, senior counsel for the Delhi Government, opposed the maintainability of the petition on the ground that no averments have been made in the petition; and termed it as ‘abuse of process of court’ and to have been filed for ‘publicity’s sake’.
The DUSIB, one of the respondents, in its response, has submitted that this petition may not be admissible at this stage as the matter involving similar issue is pending before Supreme Court, wherein the Court has constituted a Committee.
The application has been moved in a PIL filed by Shrikant Prasad, a law student, wherein the court, vide order dated May 17, 2021, issued notice and had directed the matter to be listed for July 23, 2021.
It is averred that the Delhi Government, vide this scheme, was aiming to provide door-step delivery of ration to ration-card holders, in order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is contended that the LG has rejected the file implementation of the Delhi Government’s ambitious ‘Doorstep Delivery of Ration’scheme citing two reasons- Centre is yet to approve the scheme and on account of an ongoing court case. In this regard, the petitioner prays for quashing of the order passed by the LG in as much as he it stayed the operation of ‘Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana’.
The application also states that the Delhi Government has consistently provided ration to the ration card holders. However, there are numerous people who are residing on foothpaths and do not hold ration-cards, owing to which they are unable to get ration from the government. Pursuant thereto, the application seeks direction to provide food, shelter,medical treatment to all affected destitute homeless people residing on footpaths, along with a direction for their rehabilitation.Furthermore, it also seeks direction to the Delhi Government to allow the e-district portal for filing application of ration card and to dispose of the same within a month.